December 13 Holidays

Worldwide Candle Lighting Day is observed on the second Sunday of December — a day on which bereaved parents and family members around the world light candles at 7 p.m. local time, creating a continuous wave of memorial light moving across time zones to honor children who have died. National Horse Day was established to celebrate the horse — domesticated approximately 6,000 years ago on the Eurasian steppe — whose role in agriculture, transportation, warfare, and sport shaped the course of human civilization more profoundly than any other animal except the dog. National Violin Day celebrates the bowed string instrument perfected in 16th-century Cremona, Italy — with Stradivarius violins crafted by Antonio Stradivari between 1680 and 1720 still commanding millions of dollars at auction and considered irreproducible despite centuries of study. Malta Republic Day marks December 13, 1974, when Malta became a republic — removing the British monarch as head of state and transitioning to an elected president.